Stage four as it happened .

Stage four - Cambrai to Reims, 153km.

1652: For your delectation, you can read the full stage report on the BBC Sport website. And for full results visit the official Tour de France website. Thanks for reading and come back on Thursday for more hectic action in the 2010 Tour de France.

1646: Mark Cavendish finished 12th after sitting up when his challenge was done. His green jersey charge is looking in trouble now, down in 36th place with 15 points. 

 

Overall points standing:

1. Hushovd 80 pts
2. Petacchi 70 pts
3. McEwen 62 pts
4. Thomas 56 pts
5. Rojas 49 pts

1640: So Fabian Cancellara retains the leader's yellow jersey with the general classification unchanged.

Overall standings:1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi/SAX) 14hr 54min 0sec
2. Geraint Thomas (GB/SKY) at 23"
3. Cadel Evans (Aus/BMC) at 39"
4. Ryder Hesjedal (Can/GRM) at 46"
5. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra/QST) at 1'01"
6. Andy Schleck (Lux/SAX) at 1'09"
7. Thor Hushovd (Nor/CTT) at 1'19"
8. Alexandre Vinoukourov (Kaz/AST) at 1'31"
9. Alberto Contador (Spa/AST) at 1'40"
10. Johan van den Broeck (Bel/OPL) at 1'42"

 

1639: From Enjoy _the_ride_again on 606 : "Well, that answers the questions, Cav doesn't have it at the moment."

1637: Results: 1. Petacchi 2. Dean 3. B Hagen 4. McEwen 5. Hunter 6. Turgot 7. Rojas 8. Oss 9. Hushovd 10. Freire.

1635: Into the home straight and the pace increases to string out the pack. Under one km to go and the lead-out men do their stuff. Renshaw leads out Cavendish, a Cervelo man and Hushovd track the Briton. McEwen waits, Hondo is there, too. But here come Petacchi, Cavendish drops back, he's beaten and Petacchi takes the line honours. Phew, what a sprint.

1630: And that's it, the pack swallow the break. A Lampre man at the front with a smattering of HTC. No team has yet organised their lead-out train.

1630: Francis De Greef drops out of the break, leaving four at the front. Still with a slender advantage with 3.4km to go.

1629: We're in roundabouts-ville now and Cervelo have taken up the gauntlet and reduced the gap to five seconds. There are nine roundabouts in the last five clicks, some very tight. It could be chaos.

1627: The leaders are still fighting as the peloton pause to sort themselves out. Some of the non-sprinters teams ie those aiming more for the overall classification - move to the front to keep their men in touch, but that has the effect of dulling the pace and could help the breakaway, who are working together and are heads down.

1625: One of the HTC boys reaches out and places an arm on Cavendish's back, almost like a little pre-fight massage to say, "You can do it, mate".

1623: The breakaway riders don't look like they believe they can stay clear though the lead is still 17 secs with 11km left. Just behind it's HTC Columbia, Cervelo and Lampre at the head of affairs. But the hammer has not gone down yet...

1618: The road is flat and straight and the peloton can see the break just up ahead. They're under 15km and the lead is at 20 seconds. Two HTC Columbia men driving the main train.

1609: The leaders pass under the 20km to go banner with a lead of about 35 secs. Either they surge now, or that's it for them. Back in the pack, they're on full alert as the teams organise themselves for the sprint. Robbie McEwen is glued to the back wheel of Thor Hushovd. The Aussie was the last winner of a Tour stage in Reims in 2004. "He'll be wondering if he can return to the scene of former triumphs and ... triumph," says Im_Partial on 606.

1604: The leaders race through the final intermediate sprint at 25km. Results: 1. De Greef 2. Isasi 3. Vogondy.

1555: Obligatory "Tour de France rides by fields of sunflowers" shot. Nice touch. On the course, it's all change at the front of the peloton as the Cervelo Test Team of Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish's HTC Columbia boys mass at the head of proceedings. A few Lampre riders up there, too.

1540: The break is down to about a minute ahead now. A suspicion the five are rather going the motions until the peloton swallow them. Still Bole, Sivtsov, Radio Shack at the head of the peloton.

Reims was founded about 80 BC and was the capital of the Remi tribe. Now it's the heart of champagne country - indeed, Asterix and Obelix took an amphora of bubbly booze from here in Asterix and the Banquet. That's historical fact, that is. Probably.

1525: We're down at 50km to go now but the race situation - with a five-man break at about 1'50" - is likely to stay like this for a while yet. Assuming at some stage the pack winds it up and hauls in the escapees, the sprinters to watch out for will be the likes of Cavendish, Hushovd, Petacchi, McEwen, Freire, Boasson Hagen. Nine roundabouts in the last five kilometres could spell trouble, though. If now is the calm, we're certainly expecting a storm sooner or later.

1511: The Lampre rider that has been doing the hard yards at the front is Grega Bole. Him and Sivtsov have driven the train for a long time now, watched all the way by the well-drilled Radio Shack squad. Just keeping out of trouble? Or up to something? Lance is certainly on Plan B now after yesterday's events.

1453: Normal service is resumed after the feed station with Radio Shack sitting en masse at the front, behind a Lampre rider and HTC Columbia's Kanstantsin Sivtsov, who have headed the field for ages.

1450: Now then, team, would you mind refreshing your page - 'cos then, as if by magic, you'll see 5 live commentary appear. Ta much.

1445: Not much occurring racewise at the mo'. Let's remind ourselves who is in the break, shall we? They are Dmitri Champion (ALM), Francis De Greef (OLO), Nicolas Vogondy (BTL), Iban Mayoz (FOT) and Inaki Isasi (EUS). They broke away following Champion's surge at 1.5km and are 1'50" clear. The riders pass through the feeding station and pick up their bags of food and drink. Still a big Radio Shack contingent at the front but more diluted than it was.

1420: One of those "Nice work if you can get it" days as the rank and file cruise along out the back soaking up a few rays and chatting to their mates. The break is 1'50" clear, though the pack will step on it later as the sprinters' teams up the pace.

1410: Interesting scenario at the front of the peloton as Lance Armstrong's Radio Shack team drive along the pace. The Saxo Bank squad of Fabian Cancellara and Alberto Contador's Astana have taken notice and are massing behind, wondering what Radio Shack have up their sleeves.

1400: A little injection of pace from Iban Mayoz hands him the points at the top of the fourth category climb of Vadencourt. No-one else is much bothered but Francis De Greef crosses second and Inaki Isasi third.

1355: Now then, about that breakaway. The five men are a little more than two minutes clear with 114km to go as Lance Armstrong's Radio Shack squad head the peloton after a spell from Mark Cavendish's HTC-Columbia team.

1350: Tour sprint legend Erik Zabel reckons Mark Cavendish's dream of winning the green jersey may already be over. Zabel said that in all his years of competing for the points jersey, a prize he won six times, he rarely had to fight his way back from a 25 point deficit. "I was behind, 20 points, 25 maximum. But it's an unspoken rule in the Tour that you can miss one stage, be 30, 35 points behind and it's still no problem because the (other) sprinters can have some bad luck. But now, 62 points, it's a lot."

1345: First crash of the day sees Amets Txurruka hit the tarmac. The Euskaltel rider is back up and riding but gingerly. Frank Schleck underwent surgery on his collarbone last night and had eight bolts fitted to hold it all together. David Le Lay was the other retirement on Tuesday.

1340: From 5livecycling on Twitter :"We will be on air from 1500 BST online and on 5 Live Sports Extra today."

1335: The break have pushed their lead out to three-and-a-half minutes with 130-ish km to go. They are riding under a cloudless sky with the peloton strung out line abreast on the narrow roads.

1325: A few of you on 606 point out that the Iban Mayoz in the breakaway is not the same Iban Mayo some may remember from a few years ago. The latter, a renowned climber who won a stage up Alpe d'Huez in 2003, served a two-year drugs ban in 2009. He's not riding in this year's Tour and may have even retired.

1315: Results of the first sprint at 12.5km: 1. Iban Mayoz 6pts 2. Dimitri Champion 4pts 3. Francis De Greef 2 pts. Saxo Bank are at the front of the peloton, 2'20" behind.

By the way, thanks to Simon on the text for pointing out Geraint Thomas is the first British rider since David Millar in 2000 to wear the white jersey. First Welshman, though.

1310: From 5livecycling on Twitter : "Dodgy road surface for a TdF finish. It's quite patchy in places where I assume the utility companies have done their bit. Road about 500m especially is bumpy. I'm sure the sprinters' teams have done their homework. Question is has Hushovd more or less won green?"

1305: Dmitri Champion of AG2R sparked the break and was quickly joined by Francis De Greef (OLO), Nicolas Vogondy (BTL), Iban Mayoz (FOT) and Inaki Isasi (EUS). There's no reaction from the peloton, who will roll along happily in the sunshine for a while as the break enjoy the limelight.

1300: The riders roll out in bright sunshine in Cambrai, with the yellow jersey (Cancellara), green jersey (Hushovd), polka dot jersey (Pineau) and white jersey (Thomas) line abreast out front. After several minutes of pleasant pedalling, the first of the day's breakaways hares off up the road for their moment in the sun. It's a group of five, including Iban Mayoz.

Cambrai is hosting the tour for a second time - in 2004 it was the start of a 60km time trial that finished in Arras. Lance Armstrong took over in yellow at the end of the day.

1257: From I'd rather drive up the Tourmalet to ski down on 606 : "I'm pretty much agreeing with everyone on this one. Short stage, only one minor bump, predictable sprint finish. Cav for the win today. If he doesn't (and Thor wins), his tour is over in my opinion - I can't imagine he'd make up that many points over a guy who can hold his own on the more hilly stages."

1255: From 5livecycling on Twitter : "The final 5km is littered with roundabouts and I think the one at around 3.5km to go could be dodgy if it's not lined out."

1250: So to today. Cambrai to Reims, 153.5km through Champagne country. The first stage of this year's race entirely in France. It's a flat one, with only a modest category four climb, so tailor-made for sprinters. Mark Cavendish - your stage awaits. Although Tuesday's stage winner Thor Hushovd might have other ideas as he defends his green points jersey.

Team Sky's Simon Gerrans, a key lieutenant for Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas, will start after being hit in the face by a pedal on Tuesday, requiring stitches.

1240: Hello race fans. Got your breath back from yesterday's carnage on the cobbles? What a shake-up that was - in more ways than one. Fabian Cancellara regained the yellow jersey, Geraint Thomas became the first British wearer of the young riders' white jersey, Lance Armstrong lost heaps of time and even defending champion Alberto Contador shed precious time to double Tour runner-up Cadel Evans.

"Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail. I was the nail," said seven-time champion Armstrong after a puncture cost him dear. "I have 20 days now to be the hammer. We'll stay in the race and keep trying."

Bradley Wiggins is still fighting, though, while Andy Schleck put Monday's crash behind him to reignite his challenge, though brother Frank is out with a broken collarbone. 

 

Overall standings:1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi/SAX) 14hr 54min 0sec
2. Geraint Thomas (GB/SKY) at 23"
3. Cadel Evans (Aus/BMC) at 39"
4. Ryder Hesjedal (Can/GRM) at 46"
5. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra/QST) at 1'01"
6. Andy Schleck (Lux/SAX) at 1'09"
7. Thor Hushovd (Nor/CTT) at 1'19"
8. Alexandre Vinoukourov (Kaz/AST) at 1'31"
9. Alberto Contador (Spa/AST) at 1'40"
10. Johan van den Broeck (Bel/OPL) at 1'42"

Selected others:

14 Bradley Wiggins (GB/SKY) at 1'49"
15 David Millar (GB/GRM) at 2'06"
18 Lance Armstrong (US/TRS) at 2' 30"
69 Stephen Cummings (GB/SKY) at 4'10"
110 Mark Cavendish (GB/HTC) at 9' 11"
141 Jeremy Hunt (GB/CTT) at 15' 07"
150 Daniel Lloyd (GB/CTT) at 17' 32"
180 Charlie Wegelius (GB/OPL) at 24' 06"
For full results visit the official Tour de France site